Brantley v. Union Bank Trust Company

Full title: JERRY D. BRANTLEY ET AL., PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS, v. UNION BANK TRUST…

Court: United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Date published: Aug 5, 1974

498 F.2d 365 (5th Cir. 1974)

Opinion

Nos. 73-3625, 73-3631. Summary Calendar.^_

_ Rule 18, 5 Cir.; Isbell Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizens Casualty Company of New York et al., 5 Cir., 1970, 431 F.2d 409, Part I.

August 5, 1974.

John B. Crawley, Troy, Ala., Joseph J. Levin, Jr., Charles F. Abernathy, Montgomery, Ala., for plaintiffs-appellants in No. 73-3625.

John M. Milling, Jr., Charles P. Miller, Montgomery, Ala., for Union Bank Bldg.

A. Ted Bozeman, Wayne P. Turner, Montgomery, Ala., for Goodwin Langford Inv.

Cleveland Thornton, Tuskegee, Ala., Charles F. Abernathy, Joseph J. Levin, Jr., Montgomery, Ala., for plaintiffs-appellants in No. 73-3631.

Frank M. Gleason, Rossville, Ga., Samford, Torbert, Denson Horsley, Opelika, Ala., for Town Finance.

Philip H. Butler, Montgomery, Ala., for Frank Keeble.

Hill, Hill, Stovall, Carter Franco, Montgomery, Ala., for amicus curiae.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Before BROWN, Chief Judge, and THORNBERRY and AINSWORTH, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

The appellants in this case seek to challenge the constitutionality of §§ 9-503, 9-504, Title 7A of the Alabama Code (§§ 9-503, 9-504 of the Uniform Commercial Code) on due process grounds.¹ These statutes permit limited peaceful self-help repossession without prior notice or hearing by a private party acting under authority of a private agreement.

1 Section 9-503 and 9-504 read in pertinent part:

§ 9 — 504. Secured party's right to dispossession after default. — Unless otherwise agreed a secured party has on default the right to take possession of the collateral. In taking possession a secured party may proceed without judicial process if this can be done without breach of the peace or may proceed by action.

§ 9 — 504. Secured party's right to dispose of collateral after default; effect of disposition. — (1) A secured party after default may sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any or all of the collateral in its then condition or following any commercially reasonable preparation or processing.

Our decision in this case is squarely controlled by our recent decision in James v. Pinnix, 495 F.2d 206, p. 207, n. 5a [1974] in which we found such statutes to be free from Federal due process scrutiny for lack of requisite state action. The judgments of the district court dismissing the appellants' complaints were correct.

Affirmed.